Back to school

I am writing this on the eve of returning to school, kids not in till Monday but I have been worrying about going back.  I didn't end up writing an end of term post, which I often do. One because I haven't really wanted to get on my computer very much all Summer, Two, because last year was incredibly hard for me at school. As you remember, I spent the entire last academic year without my music room, operating as an itinerant, moving from classroom to classroom every lesson.  It didn't get easier. I got used to it in the way you get used to any routine but there were always new difficulties and things to contend with.  Forgotten items, lost items, lost work, mislaid paperwork, mislaid instruments (and beaters! AHGJGHGHGHGHG, I spent my life telling them to put the beaters back into the container only for me to go round and find them randomly), instruments in the wrong building, broken instruments, horrid quick changes of instruments and classes and buildings and year groups.  Feeling like I was constantly annoying my colleagues and feeling like I was wasting SO much time in logistics and not having the energy for the things that really needed my time.  And the feeling that I was just moaning and miserable all the time. When I went to music camp this Summer, when people asked how school was and my year of work, I just couldn't muster up the energy to get enthusiastic like I usually do.

Am I to get my classroom back, you might be wondering? Alas not! Due to wrangling over cost responsibility and the suchlike, it means that nothing has happened to remedy the 'broken' building so I have another year of it, or perhaps more? Who knows.

As I think on having to do this all again, having no music room, no hall, no extra spaces, no orchestra, no recorder clubs, choir in a corridor, drumming club in a borrowed classroom, as well as having to start a whole new assessment procedure for all the Foundation subjects, as well as moving room 4-6 times a day (if I have clubs and assemblies), I confess that I feel pretty fed up.

However,  despite some lovely musical moments last year and some wonderful interactions with classes and children (who would've thought that I would miss the awful class that made me cry when they were in Year 3?), I did feel pretty dour about school in general and I felt like I moaned all the time. I couldn't bear doing school work at home, and this year, despite the difficulties, I want to be more positive about it all. Or at least stop moaning.  I don't want to be that whingy teacher.

So, for me, a few things I want to try and achieve:

• No moaning, even though I might really want to.
• Try to stay calm.
• Try to get my work done right away and don't let it build up.
• Drink lots of water
• Eat healthy, prepared lunches more if I can.
• Go to bed early, when possible. Sleep-deprivation helps no one.
• Say yes to musical and other opportunities outside school (this was wonderful last year!) but not to the detriment of my health.
• Try to prepare and eat dinner right away when we get home from school.
• Count my blessings daily- 5 positive things written down each day.

I hope that if there is anyone else who is returning to anything and is also feeling the dread, manages to get past it!

xxx

TARDIS Tuesday- The outfit that never appeared.

 Hello!

Hope you are well.  I've somehow avoided blogging at all these past few days- have been trying to send myself photos from my phone but they don't seem to have sent! Hopefully, I will be able to share some France photos soon.

Today, for TARDIS Tuesday, I am choosing my original inspiration, Clara.  

I last wore this outfit in June 2020

It came in an episode called The Snowman. At the end we see a modern day Clara in a graveyard.  They filmed 2 versions of it with her in different outfits, not sure why! Sadly, this one was not chosen for the final version. It's a shame as the print on the playsuit is really pretty.

The purple playsuit is from Urban Outfitters. She wears it with a black short-sleeved top, a brown belt and a satchel.

https://claraoswaldcosplay.dreamconnect.de/?p=210

I chose to wear this outfit as it's a good Summer outfit for being at home (which I was- all day!)

I am afraid that there isn't much difference between this version and the last one that I wore it but this time, I am wearing an alternative black top (charity shopped Topshop) .and I remembered to add a brown belt (bought in Antwerp from Think Twice.  I actually found the same jumpsuit in the charity shop in a larger size a few months ago which is good as I prefer it a bit larger.

I wore this on the bank holiday day and it was very good outfit for cleaning in as CBC managed to somehow bust our sink drain (it was badly clogged so he was trying to do something useful) and I had to clean out the sopping wet cupboard under the stairs. I ended up doing lots of cleaning- washing floors, hoovering etc as part of the experience.

For the photos, I wore my handmade Hetty and Dave Squirrel shoes and I added Clara's Aztec eagle necklace from another outfit.

One more day left of the holidays.  I was hoping to get some work done (why do I never learn my lesson) but it seems CBC's nephew is coming over to see us.

Hope you are well.

xx

TARDIS Tuesday- Bill Potts pilot outfit with adapted version!

 

Hello!

I'm back from 9 days in France.  Today, I am sharing an outfit which was worn by 12th Doctor companion, Bill Potts, played by Pearl Mackie.  Pearl's style is not particularly mine but she had a couple of really cool garments that I ended up collecting.

Let's look at the outfit I am sharing today. It was worn by Bill in her very first episode.

https://fetcherx.com/search/tumblr/bill%20potts

Image borrowed from Tamsin's website- The Ultimate Guide to the Fashion of Doctor Who

She wears a stripy vest top from Urban outfitters along with blue jeans from Topshop with turned up ankles.  She wears black and white trainers.

In terms of accessories, she wears a black cord necklace, a blue crystal shard necklace and peace logo earrings.  You can also see a red hair bow too.

I last made a version of this outfit back in September 2020.

I've made some different choices today.

I started with the stripy vest top which I wore before.  It's a lovely light, woven fabric.  I teamed it with my ASOS blue jeans.  These are jeans I bought for one of my Clara cosplays but they work for this too.  I added a black belt from another dress.

In terms of shoes, I wore these white and black Toms shoes (bought for CBC some years ago but he doesn't like them)

I noticed that CBC's school satchel looked very similar to Bill's one so I added it to the picture.

Finally, in terms of jewellery, I forgot about earrings and couldn't find a suitable red hair bow but added my 1990's name necklace turned around along with a quartz crystal necklace I received in a blog swap.

Once I'd taken these photos, I realised that the jeans were just going to be too hot today so I substituted the trousers for some black linen cropped trousers and added a white broderie anglaise button up blouse to protect my arms from the sun when I walked to the charity shop/COOP/Shoe mender (yessss, a new one has opened in town!) 

Much more Summer appropriate though this outfit woud work really well on a cooler day.

What do you think of either outfit?

xx

Lannercost priory

 Back in May Half term, CBC and I paid an impromptu visit to Lannercost priory which is on the Cumbria/Northumberland border. We visited on our way back from a funeral in Scotland.

It's an infamous place for us as it is where CBC's dad ate a cheese sandwich which preceeded his heart-attack that thankfully we were with him for!

It's a beautifil English Heritage site (we used our membership for the first time in 2 years!!)

The photos speak for themselves...

Home grown harvests

 Ah, there is nothing better than the SMUGNESS of having grown your own fruit and veg!

I've had lots of lovely fruit (and the odd bit of veg so far). I think I will share my stats of harvests at the end of the season (as I've actually counted this year!) but in the meantime, here are a few of my harvests...

TARDIS Tuesday- Spyfall!

This week for TARDIS Tuesday, I decided to revisit a cosplay (last seen in May 2020) which was begging to make use of my parched garden as a backdrop since the original was set in South Africa!

It was an outfit worn for the party of a millionaire in a very James Bond episode. As you can see, all the characters donned their own version of James Bond's suave outfit.  I'm focusing on Yaz's one on the left:

Image borrowed from:
http://www.multiversitycomics.com/tv/doctor-who-spyfall-part-1/

Image borrowed fromL
https://theultimateguidetothefashionofdoctorwho.wordpress.com/2020/01/12/yasmin-khan-spyfall-pt-1-and-2-bow-necklace/

She wears:

• Sequin jacket with satin lapels and tie by Paul Smith
• Reiss white scallop neck top (IDed by me!!!!!!!!!!)
• Tiffany Bow necklace
• Black trousers
• Black boots

The first item I started with was the sequin jacket.  The real one is very expensive and it's an item that I am unlikely to search for as the one I've got is just as good! My one was from New Look and I found it on eBay for around £5-9 (can't remember what exactly!) 

My blazer had no tie but I still have the black silky dressing gown cord from my teenage dressing gown which worked well!

The top was relatively easy to identify. I looked for a white scalloped top on eBay and found the screen accurate one as the scallop lace detail about the neckline is quite distinctive.  It's quite a glamorous top and originally cost £125 originally- mine had the original price tags on. So. Much. Money.

That's the only parts of this outfit that were bought especially for the cosplay (and will be good concert items).  The black trousers are those ubiquitous Asos ones that get worn for any skinny jeans or black trousers that are needed and the boots are Clarks Mens desert boots.

I thought I'd make an honourable mention for the necklace. I am wearing a silver cross necklace from Edith May jewellery (made by my friend Annie).  It's not a bow but it has a similar sort of formation and shape. I actually own a Tiffany Cross which in retrospect, I could have worn but I like this one very much!

It was very hot wearing this jacket out in the sunshine but I survived! I ended up keeping my hair like this all day as it felt cool and also makes me feel like a squirrel when I have my ponytail all busy and bouncy!

Would you wear this outfit?  How would you change it to make it more you?!

xx

Chevron

 Here's an outfit from the first of the scorcher 38 degrees days back in July. I bought this dress- Max studio- brand new with tags in the charity shop back in March thinking it would be a good Summer dress as it has sleeves but is a light fabric.  On the hot days, it was still too hot! 

I styled it with my Toms Hurache shoes made of woven cord and leather.

And my nan's "dried banana" necklace- fun fact- I wore this for my first ever Style Imitating Art outfit.

And finally, to cinch the waist, added my "Ann belt"- named as I bought it in Cardigan as it reminded me of lovely Polyester Princess Ann's beautiful belts

The dress looks way better with a belt as otherwise it hangs from the chest area- I prefer to accent my waist!

Picnic with the Ambassador

 Back on my first day of the school holidays, I headed across London to East Finchley were I was due to perform with my Gamelan group for the Anglo-Indonesian society's picnic at the Indonesian Ambassador's residence.

In case you are wondering what a Gamelan is, the word Gamelan is the Indonesian word for 'orchestra' and is the collective term for a set of instruments which all have individual names.  In the gamelan, nearly all the instruments are percussion instruments- ones you hit or shake- mostly the former.  There are metallophones - bronze bars of different sizes/pitches in various sizes, bronze gongs, bronze mini-gongs of different sizes which are suspended on ropes to make a row from low to high pitch, double headed drums- hit either with hard beaters of the hands, a time-keeping instrument- another nobbled gong suspended on ropes on a wooden base. 

There may also be bamboo flutes and a two stringed string instrument.

If you would like to TRY these instruments, head over to this link here: https://pad.philharmoniedeparis.fr/gamelan/index.html?_ga=2.238034377.871447270.1592844796-1250210365.1592844796

 where you can try various gamelans from different parts of Indonesia.  Once you load each one, wait and then click or hover your mouse above the metal parts of the instrument or the drum skins. Honestly, do give it a go- they are really fun and it's much easier to understand what I'm talking about once you've had a go!

We were performing on the Balinese Gamelan Angklung. This is sadly not featured in that interactive gamelan. In a nutshell, this type of gamelan is portable and tiny. It only uses 4 pitches and is very chirpy and cheerful sounding, even though it is used for cremation ceremonies in Bali. It is our summer gamelan that we play for outdoor gigs in the Summer!

The instruments are beautifully carved.

We wore out traditional costumes- men- jackets, Udang (headdress) and sarong and saput (over sarong). The women wear kebayas- embroidered blouses and sarongs in Ikat cloth.

The new ambassador is really nice! He's also a really talented saxophone player- you can see him playing it here!

Part of the joy of taking part in this gig is the FOOD! We got to eat lots of Indonesian food- tempeh, tofu, Gado-gado, noodles, all sorts!

Another player, Wil and I took a picture of our Brompton bikes meeting each other. At that point, the Ambassador came bouncing over to admire our Bromptons. He told us he had one too- customised in Indonesian flag colours.  Wil asked if we could see it so we got to go INSIDE the residence to see the bike!

It was such a lovely shady location and the whole day was really enjoyable!

Here were the two instruments I played.

I played the pulse on this nobbled gong and I also played the little Bamboo flute called the Suling! I managed to play both at the same time (we were short of players)!

Here's hoping I get to take part in this again. Last time was 2019!

x

The day of three dresses

I mentioned meeting my friend Margaret on Monday for a walk and lunch. I'd been planning to cycle to meet her and then leaving the bike at her house. I dressed suitably for a sunny day and for cycling, wearing a white t-shirt and 3/4-length linen culottes/trousers plus Dr Martens desert boots and socks.  However, I ended up not cycling.  As I started walking from the station, it became apparent to me that the elastic in my linen trousers' waist had either broken or melted or something because the trousers felt really loose or saggy. Sufficed to say after 3.5 miles of walking with M, I was getting reaaaaaaaaaaaaally annoyed with my trousers.  After we had had a delicious lunch at a cafe we like (Sweet potato rosti and a Strawberry/mango/apple smoothie), we had a quick look in a couple of the independent shops in that town.  They had this pale blue linen dress with a Monstera leaf print hanging up in the entrance of one of the shops and I made the mistake of trying it on. I really liked it and unusally for me, because I don't usually buy brand new clothes on impulse, I ended up buying it and wearing it- it was so much nicer than the saggy linen trousers (not sure what to do to fix the elastic in them) and is a good length for tall me!

I went to M&S to have a quick look (as I was thinking of buying some new underwear) and saw this pretty, thin cotton dress.  Again, unusually for me, it being new, I bought it, though I may take it back...what do you think of it?  The print is a bit more vibrant than it looks in this picture.

Before I had gone into M&S, I had paid a visit to Barnado's. I found this beautiful green linen dress.  I love it. It fits really well but is hugely comfortable, has pockets and was only £5!

It is CBC's and my anniversary this week, so may just wear one of these if we go out for dinner!

xx

Back from Camp

Hello there! I am back from my first music camp since August 2019. It was a wonderful week and I was so glad to be back there.

I saw and chatted to lots of old friends.  

Great flute section- one regular who I like very much plus a lovely new girl called Claire. The section was really chilled and we all got on and played well.

I got to play 1st flute for Stravinsky's Divertimento from The Fairy's Kiss which was my first choice of piece to lead the section in. It was a really beautiful part with lovely solos which suited my playing. (plus it has a bit in it which sounds JUST like George Michael Careless whisper which is hilarious when you notice it)! I also played 1st flute for John Adam's Chairman dances which were very intense and difficult but really satisfying to get right as well as for A Prayer by Frank Bridge and Suk's Scherzo Brilliante.

Lovely conductors- 2 new ones and 2 old and for the first time it was a 50-50 split on male and female conductors.

The food was amazing!  Lisa, the head cook is an absolute genius and uses lots of herbs and amazing flavours. Also such variety. One of the best was a chicken dish where the chicken was marinated in gravy with olives and capers plus rice.  Another amazing one was Goat Curry plus Lemon Dhal!

My orderly duty (where you do duties for a day including washing up, cleaning tables, serving food, chopping veg etc) was the easiest one I've ever done and I loved my team.  They were so nice and everyone worked hard.  N, who is a long-term camper told me she had really enjoyed the shift too and said I had a really good sense of humour which made me really happy as I worry I don't have a good sense of humour sometimes (school reports said I take myself too seriously and CBC tells me I have no sense of humour sometimes)

I wrote a reveille which people enjoyed and complimented.

All the music I played was brand new to me except for Janacek's Cunning Vixen - I played piccolo in that (I played flute 1 last time) and it was a gorgeous part.

CBC and I went swimming twice at the open air lido in town- it was wonderful!

It was perfect weather at camp. Because it is on top of a hill, surrounded by woodland and we play and eat in barns with high ceilings, the weather felt lovely and summery without being unbearably hot. In fact, one morning and two nights felt chilly so I wore a sweatshirt which after so much heat, was a lovely feeling. It was lovely to camp without rain for a chance!

Had a few lovely woodland walks

Dance night was great fun AND we also had a Ceilidh - I played flute for some dances and danced for others.

Enjoyed some recorder chamber music with two very good players.

Camp is the place that CBC and I got together and essentially fell in love. Being back there was really good for us and we enjoyed spending time together.

Today, I went and met my friend Margaret and walked and had lunch together.

Hope you are well!

x

TARDIS Tuesday- Sleep no More and Series 9 promo Clara

Hi there!

I thought I'd take a break from my Summer spins on Classic Doctor outfits (mainly because I haven't thought about one!) 

Today, I am sharing a Clara outfit. Most of it was from an episode entitled "Sleep No More" but actually, the version I am doing here today was from the Series 9 promotional images featuring Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi.

I had a few previous goes at this outfit.  Back in May 2019, was the last time I wore it. 

Let's have a look at it!

https://troughtonismydoctor.com/2016/01/20/doctor-who-series-9-review/

It features an expensive outfit:

It had a skirt and a top from French brand, Claudie Pierlot, a Merino wool jumper from Gap (not featured in the Promo images), a necklace from River Island or H&M, some black tights and some very painful-looking black leather monk-style shoes from &Other Stories.

Here's my version of it:

I started with the top which the lovely Ang customised for me to look like the Screen accurate one.  Mine was a charity-shopped top from M&S with a pleated collar made from another charity-shopped top.  Ang was clever-enough to make it look really similar.

Ang also customised a skirt for me to look similar by adding scalloping!).  However, it's lost its colour in the wash (after my paintstaking painting job!) and looks very odd and patchy so needs a repaint. Quite a while back, I found a Claudie Pierlot dress in the same material for a reasonable price (and thanks to lovely Alison, Dormouse for sending it to me from France!) and  ended up buying it.  You can see it below- The scalloping is around the arms instead of the hem.

I wore it under the top and added my identical triangle necklace.

The final item is the Monk shoes. They are the same brand and almost identical to the Screen-accurate ones but for one difference.  The screen accurate ones are the most ridiculously high 

YUCK! However, they also made a flat version of the shoes and I was fortunate enough to get them back in late 2019.  They were a bit small so I had them stretched (before our lovely cobbler retired). They are super quality leather and I was lucky to get them for about £14compared to the RRP of over £100

I very much like this outfit.  The t-shirt is in a more practical material (i.e. cotton) than the screen accurate one which is in synthetics. Whilst the dress lacks the scalloping (which is round the sleeves instead...I suppose it might be possible to reposition it though I quite like the sleeeves), I do like it.

With the exception of the tights (which are light), it is quite a good Summer oufit.

What do you think?

xx